


You’re Going to Poke Someone’s Eye Out

by ElvaDeath



Series: The World of Draco Malfoy [5]
Category: Assassination Classroom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, Draco Malfoy is Clueless About Muggle Things, Draco Malfoy is a Little Shit, Gakuhou's A+ Parenting, Gakushuu is magic, Good Draco Malfoy, Happy Ending, Lucius Malfoy's A+ Parenting, Smart Gakushuu, Sort Of, but he doesn't know it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:30:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23330161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElvaDeath/pseuds/ElvaDeath
Summary: Malfoy snorts. “You sound like that Granger girl.” Then he pauses, hesitantly lowering the stick, eyes examining Gakushuu’s face with an increasing look of horror. “You’re not- You’re not actually like her, are you? As in, a mudblood?!”Muggle, mudblood, and strange stick waving. Whatever next.-E.D.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Asano Gakushuu, but more of a friend thing, sort of - Relationship
Series: The World of Draco Malfoy [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580998
Comments: 27
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know, ok? I just really like these two, and I've been wanting to put them together in a fic for a while now. Here is the result. There isn't much plot, really, just the two of them being... them. And the ending is cute and weird at the same time. Meh.
> 
> Been doing a lot of yoga in isolation, and I think it's supposed to make you more flexible, but instead it just gets harder every time... am I doing something wrong? Probably. Never been that good at any sport.
> 
> As with everything, any ideas you have for future fanfics are really appreciated!
> 
> Enjoy!  
> -E.D.

Gakushuu sighs for the seventh time that day. The conference room is still packed, with no sign of anyone leaving anytime soon, so Gakushuu is forced to sit here and wait for the Chairman. Again.

Trying not to appear disrespectful or nosy, he looks around at the other children waiting. They all appear as equally bored as he is, seeing as how this was supposed to be a parent-child conference, and instead the adults had kicked them out one by one. Gakushuu had been last, of course. Unlike the other whiny spawn, he knew every reason why each person was in the room.

One of the kids, a dark-skinned girl with glasses, flicks a rubber band at her older brother. Peterson, here because investing in the company gave them reputation. They needed that, after their eldest child had run off with a servant.  
And… the boy with dyed blue hair. Jansen. One of their twins dead, the other gone rogue. They needed to invest so that the company would hide the remaining twin in the country, in a lesser known school. Two boys, the Rustovs, glaring at each other from across the room. Here because their parents needed a school knocked down, somewhere popular, so their company could build on the land.

The list goes on. The only person here who needs nothing is Gakuhsuu. His family is the one all of the others are investing in.

But there’s one kid here, the one in the corner with a bizarre cloak and a halo of golden hair, who Gakushuu does not recognise. The nose is pinched, skin ghostly pale, so he must be European. Based on the face structure, likely French. Briefly, Gakushuu closes his eyes and flicks through his memory of the recent hours to the point where the boy had entered. With his father, the one with hair reaching his waist, the boy had walked in with an expression of acute distaste. Hm, snob. Likely looking for money, based on their completely outdated look.

A waiter coughs beside him. Gakushuu jolts out of the memory, fixing the waiter with his best ‘go away before I get you fired’ smile. The waiter flees, and Gakushuu stands. If he’s going to be waiting her for hours on end, he might as well have some fun.

The boy looks up as Gakushuu walks over, curling his lip. The distaste again. It’s a shame really, a nice conversation where Gakushuu slowly peeled back the boy’s reason for coming would have sufficed. Now he’ll have to tear down the ignorant brat.

First, he sticks out his hand politely, speaking in Japanese specifically because it’s obvious the boy doesn’t know it. “My name is Asano Gakushuu, as I’m sure you already know.”

The boy sniffs pretentiously. “I don’t speak that language, Muggle.” English, that’s a surprise. A well-formed british accent too, high class, although the word at the end is new. Gakushuu quietly stores it away, sticking a note in his mind to research it later.

“My apologies.” He smoothly transitions to English, and the boy’s eyes widen a fraction. “However, I speak English, so I would appreciate your being civil. My name is Gakushuu Asano.” Surname last, that’s how the English speak. Strange people.

The boy huffs, ignoring the hand. “Draco Malfoy.”

Malfoy. Malfoy. No, no mention of a Malfoy before. It’s strange - Malfoy, ‘bad faith’ in French, Draco, ‘dragon’ in Latin. The dragon of bad faith. No, irrelevant, scrap that, move on.

“A pleasure.” He tilts his voice just enough to sound disdainful, but not enough to insult, and elegantly descends into the chair beside the boy. “What brings you here?”

“My father.” Malfoy spits, glaring at him. “What do you think?”

Hm. Impolite, arrogant, and atrociously dressed. Gakushuu is beginning to lose all patience with this boy. “I see. How strange I’ve never seen you in any of the previous discussions… oh, that’s right. Parents only.” He laughs, giving enough teeth to flash his canines. “Apart from me, of course. Maturity over age. Such a shame you have neither.”

Maybe a bit far. Reel it back in, Gakushuu, this Malfoy boy isn’t Akabane. He’s an investor.

Malfoy snarls, hackles raised. “Well if that’s true, shouldn’t you be in there too?”

Ah. Gakushuu smiles, collecting the anger and packing it neatly into little cages. “Fair point. Our parents aren’t exactly keeping to their word. All working to create a bright new future for their children, while locking them out of the discussions.”

The boy seems surprised at how easily Gakushuu calms. “Right. Yes.”

“Perhaps you’d like to take a walk with me? I assure you, our parents shan’t miss us for another two hours and thirty four minutes, at least.” He stands again, holding out a hand, smile morphing into ‘reassuring’ and ‘friendly’.

Malfoy scowls at him, refusing the hand yet again. He stands, though, muttering something about ‘dirty blood’ and ‘my father will hear about this’, and follows Gakushuu as he walks out of the room. The other kids give them bored glances, most likely wishing they had the gall to follow. Along the corridor, down the stairs, to the right, through the office space, and Gakushuu does his best to get the annoying prick to talk. No such luck. This pompous idiot still refuses to do much more than spit insults by the time they reach an empty corridor, and Gakushuu has run out of patience.

“Please, go on ahead, I must retie my shoelaces. They seem to have become loose.” He mutters through gritted teeth, heart thumping in anticipation as the git snorts and marches on ahead. Three, two, one…

“Now.” Gakushuu whispers, pushing his anger and frustration at the boy in a tidal wave, knocking Malfoy off his feet to face-plant on the hard ground. Grinning the first genuine smile of the day, Gakushuu jumps to his feet and rushes over, uncaring that his facade of sympathy refuses to slip onto his face. “Oh no, such a shame! Perhaps you should have stopped to tie your shoelaces like me, they have a habit of tripping people up.”

It’s silly, really, only using this strange ability of his to do pranks, but he can’t help it. It’s not like Gakushuu will use it to cheat - he likes winning because he’s just better than people - and he can’t use it for the good of humanity, otherwise more men will come with their mind wiping abilities and take him away. The first time he used the powers, they arrived, black suits and hidden weapons in their pockets, asking after any strange happenings. He’s not stupid. He’s seen the films. So as long as he doesn’t get caught, he can use this unnatural ability to laugh at irritating boys like Akabane and Malfoy.

Malfoy struggles to his feet, getting tangled in the ridiculous robes. His face is furious. “How dare you?!” He hisses, pulling out a strange stick and poking it in Gakushuu’s face. “I knew it! My father would never bow to a Muggle! I’m not stupid, Arsainope, I know when someone hits me with a tripping hex!”

At least Gakushuu now knows why the Malfoys are here, he ponders, leaning back to avoid the stick. To find somewhere to hide their lunatic son. “It’s Asano. Would you put that down? You’re going to poke someone’s eye out.” He sighs, an unimpressed expression sliding onto his face with ease. He’s had a lot of practice with it, especially when Akabane and his class of loonies come down from the hilltop.

Malfoy snorts. “You sound like that Granger girl.” Then he pauses, hesitantly lowering the stick, eyes examining Gakushuu’s face with an increasing look of horror. “You’re not- You’re not actually like her, are you? As in, a mudblood?!”

Muggle, mudblood, and strange stick waving. Whatever next. “Frankly, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Perhaps we should return to wait for our parents, before you make a bigger fool of yourself, Malfoy.” He sighs, rolling his eyes. 

“You really don’t, do you?” Malfoy gapes at him, stick now limp in his hand. “How? Didn’t you get your letter when you were seven? Aren’t you at Mahoutokoro?”

“Hm. Well. As enlightening as this has been, I’m afraid I rather need to use the lavatory.” And call the police, Gakushuu privately thinks, turning on his heel to escape.

“Wait!” Malfoy grabs onto his arm, spinning him around again. “Can you do this?” He frowns, concentrating, and a shower of sparks erupts from the end of his stick. Gakushuu stares, and slowly flicks a few sparks back. He could do better, but the shock of finding the lunatic boy is like him seems to have dampened his abilities. Perhaps Malfoy is not such a lunatic after all.

Malfoy scowls, manhandling Gakushuu into the nearest closet. He doesn’t protest. He doesn’t think he’s got the emotional strength to.

“Right. You’re a mudblood.” Malfoy appears even more disgusted at this. “You’ve got magic, Afarno.”

“Asano.”

“Whatever. I don’t know why you haven’t, but you were supposed to get a letter when you were seven, inviting you to join the Japanese school for magic, Mahoutokoro. They were supposed to teach you about magic there.”

Finally, Gakushuu retrieves his voice. “Why did you call me ‘Muggle’ and ‘mudblood’?”

“Muggles are people without magic.” He sighs, rolling his eyes. Gakushuu can’t help feeling a little helpless, like a clueless child being told off by the Chairman for not drawing the eyes right. “And mudbloods are wizards or witches born into a muggle family, who have magic. Well, the official name is muggleborn, but…”

“But what?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Malfoy suddenly looks uncomfortable. “Look, Aimanso.”

“Asano.”

“Afarmsno.”

“Asano.”

“Whatever! You have to come speak to my father about this. Wait.” Malfoy scrunches his nose up. “Nevermind. Bad idea. Do you have an owl?”

“Why would I need an owl?” Gakushuu asks, a hole opening up beneath his feet. How does he not know all of this? Why does this scrawny little prick know more than he does? Does that mean that Gakushuu is worse than him?

“Muggles don’t have owls, right. How do you talk to other people?”

“With my mouth.” Gakushuu deadpans. Ok, maybe that last thought was stupid. Obviously he’s better than this idiot.

“No, I mean, how do you talk to people far away?”

“By yelling.”

Malfoy groans, face palming. “How do you talk to people very very far away? Like, in another country?”

“A text?” Gakushuu raises an eyebrow.

Malfoy is the one to look confused now. “A text? What’s a text?”

“Like, with a phone.” Gakushuu pulls out his phone, which he immediately regrets as Malfoy snatches it and examines the specially made cover, complete with a picture of the Five Virtuosos (and Jaws, obviously) celebrating over his father’s coffin. Generally, this phone is only used for personal things, such as wailing to his friends at 3am about how unfair life is, but today he’d accidentally left his work phone.

“This is a phone? But it’s just a block of plastic. How is this supposed to send messages to anyone?” Malfoy wrinkles his nose, letting Gakushuu snatch it back.

“Magic.” He clicks the on button, showing Malfoy the lit up screen.

Twenty minutes later, Malfoy is still fascinated and slightly terrified of the device. Gakushuu sighs for the fifteenth time that day. “No, Malfoy, it doesn’t actually contain magic. Look, why don’t you just keep this one.” He digs in his pockets and brings out Akabane’s phone, taking his own back. Not like the other boy will miss it, since every one of his gets doused in wasabi paste or something even more grim.

Malfoy frowns, firmly pressing the button and grinning at the lit up screen. “Is this you?” He snorts, showing Gakushuu the lockscreen, and jumping when Gakushuu accidentally makes the broom behind him break in half. That utter demon. When he sees him again, Gakushuu is going to-

“Azno?” Malfoy backs off hesitantly at Gakushuu’s best ‘I will kill you and your entire family’ smile, lowering the picture of Gakushuu in a cocktail dress and sparkly lipstick glowing from the screen. Not only this, but the words ‘luv my gf’ are emblazoned across the bottom. No wonder it was so easy to steal - Akabane wanted everyone in the school to see it.

“It’s Asano.” He snarls, making a tremendous effort to claw his fury into slightly larger cages than before. “Nevermind. Here.” He quickly changes it to English, and replaces ‘second place-kun’ with ‘Asano’. “You can work out the rest using google.”

“Such a stupid name.” Malfoy snorts, tucking the phone into a pocket of his robes.

“Says the boy named Draco Malfoy.” Gakushuu mutters in japanese.

Draco scowls, opening his mouth to argue back, when the door opens. Both boys turn to stare at Mr Malfoy, that obnoxious long blonde hair flicking impatiently in the slight wind. “Draco. Come with me.”

Draco’s face drops, and he obediently follows his father out. Just as he’s about to walk out of sight, however, he pats the pocket where the phone is, and nods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘What a nightmare’

‘Ikr’

‘When did u learn that?’

‘Last month, remember?’

‘Oh yh’

Gakushuu grins, waiting for Draco to respond. It was hard, working to get wifi into Hogwarts without revealing his existence, but they did it. Now Draco and him talk almost every night, after Gakushuu’s done the Chairman’s personally assigned work, and Draco’s finished the fiftieth essay that week. Gakushuu teaches Draco maths and muggle things, and Draco teaches Gakushuu magic and potions. It’s a strange balance.

Years later, they move in together. Draco, driven out by a society filled with hate for ex-Death Eaters. Gakushuu, driven out by a suddenly interested Chairman, for which he held no love. They fight, often, mostly about who gets the right to the better bedroom, but most of the time they mimic each other’s parents and everything settles down again.

Gakushuu never marries.

Neither does Draco, despite his father’s best attempts.

When Gakushuu is diagnosed with dementia, Draco works on a potion to cure it. The potion never works, although when his notes are found by another ambitious potioneer after his death, a new one is developed. It’s a little too late. But later, much much later, children come to play beneath the huge tree over the old graveyard, tracing two names on two graves.

‘Gakushuu Asano’

‘Draco Malfoy’

~~~~~


	2. Longer Version

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in conclusion, I have too much time on my hands and therefore wrote many pages to make this. These were some of my original ideas, although others didn't quite fit, and it's fleshed out into this.
> 
> In the future, I may be planning a 'Gakushuu goes to magic school' type thing, recommended to me by Wondercookie05 (thank you!), so anyone who is interested in that and would like anything specific in it, please say so!
> 
> Anyway, I won't take up any more of your time.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> \- E.D.

“Show me again.” Ren whispers, eyes alight with wonder.

Gakushuu, eight years old, smiles at his friend’s awe and obeys. A glow throbs in his cupped hands, illuminating the insides of their massive pillow fort. He concentrates, and the glow shifts into a bright blue butterfly, flapping away and dissolving again.

“How did you do that?” The other boy gasps, cupping his own hands. Gakushuu rolls his eyes.

“You can’t do that, Ren. It’s only me who can do it.”

“That’s not fair.” Ren drops his hands. “Why can’t I?”

“You’re not magic.” Gakushuu sticks his chin in the air, the familiar sense of superiority flooding through him. “I am. Oh, don’t look like that, Ren. You know I’m more special than you, this shouldn’t be a huge surprise.”

Ren scowls at him, standing abruptly and upsetting one of the chairs. It falls, collapsing the tent inwards and burying the two of them under a pile of blankets and cushions. “I’m going to get a glass of water.” Ren scrambles out from under the mess, bare feet slapping on the polished wooden floors as he runs out.

Gakushuu rolls his eyes again, shoving aside enough pillows so that he can breathe. Stupid Ren. He gets upset over everything, when he has no right to. Gakushuu showed him something no one else could ever do, and Ren has the gall to be angry with him! If Gakushuu ever behaved like that, the Chairman, his father, would be-

“Gakushuu! Gakushuu!” Ren’s panicked whisper reaches him from the doorway. “Come and look! There’s men at the door!”

“There’s always men at the door, Ren. The Chairman is a very busy man.” Gakushuu sighs, but stands and trails over anyway.

Ren’s right. These men don’t look like the businessmen the Chairman usually greets. These have dark suits on, and strange cloaks around their shoulders, and hands in their pockets. Gakushuu runs back to his room, grabbing his binoculars, and focuses on the pockets. A shape bulges inside. Cameras, because they’re paparazzi? No, these are too small and long. Besides, the men clearly don’t want anyone to notice the hands in their pockets, and the way they hold them is as if they’re threatened, and they’re ready to pull out…

A gun.

“What is it? Who are they?” Ren whispers, then squeaks as Gakushuu pulls them out of the way of the window and clamps a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t move. They’ve got guns.” Gakushuu hisses, sneaking a glance at the men again. He ignores Ren’s panicked breaths as he watches his front door open and the Chairman steps out, stiff in his suit. Does he ever change from it? Is this proof that the Chairman sleeps in his suit? Or maybe he doesn’t sleep at all.

There’s a quiet mumble as the men talk, the Chairman’s eyebrow lifting further and further up his face. Gakushuu sighs in frustration. He can’t hear anything from here. Abandoning Ren beside the window, he sneaks down the hallway to the top of the entranceway stairs, peeking down at them.

“So you’re sure you’ve seen nothing? No strange sights, smells, or noises? Nothing out of the ordinary?” One of the cloaked men asks.

“Nothing, as I’ve already said. Now, gentlemen, if you could stop wasting my time with this fear mongering, I have work to do.” The Chairman says crisply. “Good evening.”

The men exchange glances. The one who spoke nods, then her hand tightens in her pocket and she mutters something, low and menacing. Gakushuu opens his mouth to scream a warning to his father. But...the men just nod and walk out, shutting the door, and the Chairman turns and walks up the stairs.

“Gakushuu. You’re pale. Have you taken ill?” Those eyes, filled with little hundred-legged creatures, turn on him.

Gakushuu shakes his head. “No, sir. If I may ask, sir, who were those men at the door?”

The Chairman’s eyebrow raises. “Men at the door?”

“You were just talking to some men at the door.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Gakushuu. Get yourself and your little friend to bed. Evidently you have contracted an illness. Sleep should help, and I’ll fetch the housekeeper in the morning to take care of you. Good night.”

Gakushuu stares at his father’s back, perplexed. He could never hope to tell when his father was lying, but this time he’s certain his father believed that was the truth. The men had done something. The men had done magic.

Ren and Gakushuu make a pact that very night, to never talk about Gakushuu’s magic in case the men come back. They had been looking for him, he’s sure of it. He’s less sure what they were planning to do if they found him, but if those guns were any indication, it would be nothing good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Please read the first part of the shorter story for this, up to the ~ marks.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gakushuu stares at the ceiling. He should be doing work. His phone bings, and he forgets about the heap of papers left on his desk and picks it up instead.

It’s a message from Akabane. Oh, wait, it’s Malfoy now. That took far too long for Malfoy to send the first text - it’s been almost a month since their meeting, and Gakushuu had started wondering if the boy had forgotten about him.

‘To Araco,

I hope this text finds you well. I apologise for not sending one sooner, as I have been very busy with schoolwork and a particularly annoying boy in my year group. I have not told anyone about your magical abilities, as I am not sure of why you were looked over, yet I hope you would grant me permission to do so soon.

I have worked out how to change the lockscreen, so it is no longer that picture that annoyed you so. Instead, it is of the school I stay at, pictured from the grounds. I would send you it, but I am not sure how this device operates quite yet.

Please send a reply soon, I am in need of some distraction from this dull school.

Yours faithfully,  
Draco Lucius Malfoy’

Ah. Evidently Malfoy was in need of some texting advice. Muttering ‘yours faithfully’ under his breath with exasperation, Gakushuu taps out a quick reply.

‘its Asano dimwit’

There’s a long pause as Malfoy types back.

‘Whatever. How is this so fast?’

‘its called technology. dont try so hard, a text isnt the same as a letter’

‘Your grammar is appalling.’

‘ill have u kno im top of my english class’

‘u?’

‘its shortening ‘you’ down so its quicker to type’

‘So, I could say… p instead of people?’

Gakushuu glances wistfully at the pile of paper waiting for him. Answering university level maths questions will be far easier than explaining the entirety of texting culture to a newborn technology user.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Why do you call your father The Chairman?’

They were playing their third round of ‘ask me a random question’ this month, and so far Gakushuu had learnt that Draco had been assaulted by Granger, sentenced a strange creature to death, was jealous of Potter winning everything, and had once flown straight into a tree to be stuck there for an entire day.

This question makes him pause. Why wouldn’t he call his father the Chairman?

‘cos he is’

‘Why not call him your father?’

Gakushuu glances over at the Chairman’s door, listening to the clicking of a keyboard inside. ‘hes more of my chairman than my father’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘My father’s in Azkaban.’

For a moment, Gakushuu thinks he’s read it wrong. Then he thinks that he’s misremembered what Azkaban is, even though he knows he doesn’t misremember anything.

‘the magic prison?’

‘Yes.’

‘y?’

There’s a long, long pause. Draco doesn’t start replying, even though he’s never been the one to stop their conversations before. Gakushuu sits up, pulling on his socks, certain that he needs to do something but not knowing what that something is. Eventually, his phone bings.

‘I’m sorry. I’ve been lying to you for a while. Shuu, purebloods hate anyone who isn’t pureblood. Mudblood is a slur, it’s not just slang. There’s a group of people, purebloods mostly, who want to get rid of all muggleborns and muggle sympathisers. They’re called Death Eaters, and they use dark magic, like crucio, to destroy what they hate. My father is one of them. He tried to take a prophecy, which was about the leader of the Death Eaters and Potter. Potter is supposed to fight the Dark Lord, the leader of the Death Eaters, because when he was a baby he somehow killed him. But the Dark Lord survived, cause he had some special magic, and now he’s back.’

Gakushuu reads it over.

He reads it again.

Then he just stares at it, blankly, unaware of himself or of time slowly passing by. He’s always thought he was special, unique, superior to everyone else. Yes, he found out there are others like him, other magic people, but he thought… he thought the magic was the elite, and he was still part of the elite, and he was special because no one knew about him being elite apart from Ren and Draco. His father, without knowing anything about magic, has told him over and over that he is top of everything, better than everything, and so should succeed in everything.

To be told he is thought of as inferior… to be told he is hated and thought of as dirty… to be told that the very person who he thought was his friend, who he thought admired him just like all the rest, was actually one of those that hated everyone like him…

He couldn’t process it.

‘Shuu?’

‘Shuu, I’m sorry.’

‘Are you there?’

‘Shuu, please.’

‘Okay, okay. I get it if you hate me. But I’m not like my father anymore! You showed me that I was wrong. I don’t think you’re like that.’

‘Shuu’

‘Please answer me.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘The Chairman hit me.’

There’s no answer. Gakushuu drops the phone, guilt flooding him. He was such an idiot. His shock and anger had pushed Draco away, and now he has lost the only person who he thinks would understand any of this. At first, he hadn’t believed Draco, hadn’t understood that someone could hate something and then see he was wrong all along. Now, things are different. Now, he believes him, because he’s the same.

Their crushing defeat by the 3-E class had been enough. He hadn’t thought they’d manage to do it, when he’d asked them. They were all too stupid. But then they’d beaten them, fair and square, from a broken down old shack on top of the mountain with the worst teachers and without the Chairman’s ‘help’. Now Gakushuu sees he was a fool to believe they were all dumb, because he lost to them, and he knows he’s no idiot.

Then the Chairman hit him, and everything turned on its head again. He knows he needs to leave, now. If the Chairman can’t handle a class quietly defying his system, how can the Chairman ever understand Gakushuu in the way he needs? The magic only makes it worse. By the day, he’s getting increasingly worried that the Chairman will think he’s a freak, a cheat, and a lunatic. He’s no longer worried about being given a snide insult about his lowering grades. He’s more worried about being sent to the asylum.

‘y?’

Gakushuu feels the flood of relief wash over him as he picks up the phone, typing out the whole situation in a rush of anger and fear. There’s liberation in this, confessing every thought and feeling to a private friend that can’t and wouldn’t tell the Chairman. It’s almost like a diary, except one that can talk back.

‘You need to leave him as soon as you can.’

‘I can’t. He knows all of my friends, and has enough money and reputation to drag me back kicking and screaming. Besides, he’s my father.’

‘A man who hits his kid is not a father.’

‘A man who values a fascist cult over protecting his own family is not a father.’

There’s a pause, and Gakushuu worries that he’s gone too far.

‘Fair.’

He feels the smile on his face as he drops onto his back, calling for the housekeeper to get him a drink. They have a lot to catch up on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘The Dark Lord is in my house. I have to take the Dark Mark, and I don’t think I can talk to you again. Don’t come looking for me, and don’t respond. It’ll only put us both in danger. I’ll try to warn you if they come to Japan, so you can get away in time. The second it’s all over, I’ll tell you, but I don’t see how I’m going to survive this. Good luck, and goodbye. I’ll miss you.’

With that last message, Gakushuu’s heart breaks. Every day he worries that men will come to his door in silver masks. Every day he prays that Draco is not dead. Every day he tries to bury his increasing tickle of magic under his skin, wishing that Draco would send him a text and it would all be over. It doesn’t come.

His grades drop. His father breathes down his neck, shoving more and more work at him, but it doesn’t help. He can’t focus. He feels his mind become a jittery mess, checking around corners before walking down streets, peeking out of his windows in the night when he can’t sleep, staring at that last message instead of talking to his minions. Everyone notices, but no one says a thing.

Eventually, his father sends him to a therapist. The last year of junior high had changed the man, slightly, but not enough to completely overhaul their family dynamic. Gakushuu tries his best to explain everything without mentioning magic to the therapist, but she presses, so he drops her. His father arranges another, and this time he tells them about his family, which seems sufficient. He lies through his teeth, as usual, and gets away with it, as usual. 

His father removes the extra work, removes the pressure, stops the remarks about his atrocious marks. Occasionally, he finds his father cooking food for them both. Once he even found him trying to create an intellectual board game to play together. He hates it. The man doesn’t care for him, he knows that; the phantom pains in his cheek remind him of that. The title of Chairman may not apply anymore, but his father will always be the Chairman in his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doorbell rings. Gakushuu jolts awake, fear flooding through every one of his nerve cells. It’s the men. He’s sure of it. He needs to get out of here, grab his father and go.

Then common sense slows his vibrating heart, and he slips on his socks and pads to the window. Better to check. Outside, there’s a man, young, in black robes. His hair is drenched in rain, even though there’s a clear sky dotted with stars, and a stick is held in his hand. A wand. His head turns, almost as though sensing someone, and clear grey eyes stare up at Gakushuu in shock.

Gakushuu almost trips in his rush to get down the stairs. He flings open the door, and the solid weight of Draco Malfoy, completely alive and far bigger than he remembers, collides into him in a hug. They stand there, swaying slightly, Gakushuu’s pajamas getting soaked in this foreign rain, and he prays that Draco can’t feel the wet tears of joy mingling with the water.

“Hey, Agasone.”

“It’s Asano.”

“Whatever.”

And then they’re laughing, wet and slightly snotty. Gakushuu’s father watches in astonishment as his son and a strange english boy pass beneath him to the kitchen, laughing and crying and drenched with rain on a clear night, and he wonders if he’s still dreaming.

Draco tells him everything, from the moment he saw the Dark Lord (who’s actually called Voldemort, apparently) to the second he apparated. Gakushuu makes them both a strong mug of coffee, listening and feeling the fear and panic of the last year drain away in his sharp aristocratic voice. 

When he tells him of all of the deaths, Gakushuu feels only relief that Draco wasn’t one of them, and holds Draco tightly as he learns of Crabbe’s death. The story breaks slightly then, and Gakushuu lets his magic burst free as he summons over a box of tissues from the living room. A satisfying shiver goes down his spine.

Draco had been set free, on the condition that his wand is monitored and he only use a certain amount and a certain list of spells each month. Apparating here was an exception, for which he had to file a document and wait for a ministry member to approve it. Gakushuu shrugs. It is a small price to pay for having Draco alive and in front of him.

They sleep together that night, in Gakushuu’s king-sized bed. For the first time in a while, both of them sleep soundly, not waking up even when Gakushuu’s father hesitantly sticks his head round the doorway and watches them. Gakushuu is sleeping like a starfish, again, one arm thrown over Draco’s neck and one leg hanging off the bed. Draco, on the other hand, curls up like a child, arms and legs wrapped around Gakushuu like a comfort cushion.

The Chairman leaves, opens his laptop, and orders a book on parenting a gay child.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days are bliss. Gakushuu shows Draco the muggle world in its full glory, and Draco teaches him spells in return. Gakushuu still has school, unfortunately, so Draco mostly stays in the house and avoids the Chairman like the plague. One day, however, he decides he’s sick of poking through Gakushuu’s things, and walks to the school gates.

“No. No, I refuse. You can’t make me.” Gakushuu glares at Akabane on his way out of the school. “Your stupid competitions always end up with you cheating and me on top of the roof with a pet cat.”

“I think it’s just that you’re too scared.” Akabane sings, twirling around Gakushuu like a demented carousel. “Ickle Asano, too busy waiting for his long lost lover to play games with poor old me.”

Another thing. Akabane somehow got it into his head, thanks to ignored competitions, that Gakushuu was pining after a crush who’d moved away. One time he’d even stolen Gakushuu’s phone to find out who it was, but thankfully Gakushuu had retrieved it before the devil could read the message.

“I told you, I don’t like anyone, Akabane.” Gakushuu huffs, folding his arms. “Why don’t you go to the arcade again? I have work to do at home.”

“He’s very busy.” Ren adds as he approaches.

“Thank you, Ren.”

“...with that boy waiting for him by the gates.”

“What?!” Akabane shrieks, and sprints ahead.

“What?!” Gakushuu turns to Ren, eyes wide.

“He keeps speaking english to himself. You know english, and you’re gay, and you’re suddenly much happier than you were the last time I saw you. Conclusion: Akabane was right and your new boyfriend is waiting for you at the gates.” Ren winks, sidling off again.

English. Oh, bloody hell.

Gakushuu marches ahead to find Akabane poking a confused Draco in the side. Luckily, Draco is wearing some of Gakushuu’s muggle clothes, but just… Akabane.

“He’s too pale. I don’t like him.” Akabane proclaims, giving Draco one last poke and turning to Gakushuu with a grin that only spells mischief.

“Don’t poke him, Akabane.” Gakushuu sighs, then turns to Draco and switches to english. “Sorry, he’s an idiot. Ignore him.”

“Is this Arkanabe?” Draco rubs his side, wincing. “The guy whose phone I use?”

“It’s Akabane, and yes.”

“What about me?” Akabane pouts. “I don’t understand him. What’s your boyfriend saying?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Sure.”

Gakushuu glares at Akabane, taking Draco’s elbow and walking off. “As you can see, I wasn’t exaggerating when i said how annoying he is.”

“I thought you said he was smart?” Draco smiles slightly, bemused.

“Smart? Oh, no. Irritating enough to make the gods give him good grades so that he stops poking them? Definitely.”

“What’s he sayyyyiiinggggg?!” Akabane whines, trailing behind them.

“You’re still here? How disappointing.” Gakushuu shoots back. “Go to the arcade.”

“So you can have alone time with your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Then I suppose there’s no harm in me coming along with you.” Like the obnoxious ignorant brat he is, Akabane loops his arm through Draco’s, and skips along with them.

“What’s he saying?” Draco asks, bewildered as he’s towed along by the two of them.

“He’s just explaining how much of an idiot he is.” Gakushuu glares daggers at the (now whistling) boy, settling a plan of revenge in his mind.

“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” Akabane whispers, leaning behind Draco and successfully making them all trip over each other.

“Malfoy Draco.” Gakushuu mumbles as he unlinks himself from the mess.

“So he is your boyfriend!” Akabane whoops, then grunts as Gakushuu aims a practiced kick at his side.

“Sorry about him, again. I’d advise you not to leave the house, in case he spots you and harrasses you again.” Gakushuu sighs as he pulls Draco away again.

“It’s alright. Might as well make some friends if I’m going to stay here.” Draco sighs, then tries to look nonchalant as Gakushuu’s head whips around to stare at him.

“You’re staying?” He croaks out, heart thumping loudly in his chest.

“Might as well.” Draco shrugs, then smiles brightly. “Better weather than in England.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time graduation comes around, Draco has learnt enough japanese to get around by himself. They buy a little flat, and Draco makes advanced potions in his shop, and Gakushuu starts his own business selling advanced technology. No one ever need know that he uses a little magic in a few of his projects, just to get it working properly. The Chairman comes for tea once a week, then once a month, then once a year, then Draco bakes a cake to celebrate the second year that the Chairman has left them alone.

Akabane is still convinced that Draco is secretly Gakushuu’s boyfriend, even when he starts dating girls. Gakushuu himself stays mainly single, minus the few broken relationships. No one ever truly gets him, not after they see under the mask of formality. That’s fine with Gakushuu. He doesn’t need someone to be happy. All he needs is his friends and his cat. And his magic, of course.

No one stays with Draco, either. They learn of his mark, and some leave. They learn that he hates Potter, and more leave. They learn that he can’t use much magic, still, and more leave. Gakushuu thinks the worst ones are the ones who leave because they find that Gakushuu, a single gay man, is Draco’s roommate. They question their relationship, become suspicious when Draco says he doesn’t feel uncomfortable living with a gay man. Surprisingly, however, Gakushuu doesn’t like every man that crosses his path, even those he loves the personality of. That’s not how sexuality works.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shuu?”

Gakushuu lifts his head from his work, heart pounding at the concerned tone of Draco’s voice. “Yeah?”

“Can you come through here a moment?”

He picks up the sleeping cat from his lap, letting it run before him through to the living room, where Gakushuu sees Draco sitting with Ren opposite. Even Akabane is there, his usual smirk replaced with a grim expression.

“What is it? Has something happened?”

“I think you might need to sit down.” Ren says gently, guiding him to a sofa and sitting him down.

“Why? What’s happened?” He can feel his voice heightening, chest straining and centipedes crawling in his stomach.

“Last night… Your father died. I’m sorry, Shuu.” Draco sits beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “It was just his old age. He died in his sleep.”

“He wasn’t in pain?”

“No.”

“Okay.” They watch him with worried eyes, waiting for an outburst that would never come. He just sits, blankly, unsure of this dead weight in his stomach. He knows he’s in shock. He knows it will hit him, sooner or later, and then he’ll have to struggle through it all, but for now he doesn’t feel anything at all. “Anyone want some coffee?”

Draco helps him through it, when the pain does come, when the regret that he didn’t do anything to reconnect with him floods through his body and leaves him breathless and cold. He’s given hugs and coffee and chocolate and late nights watching films and books about grief and a few dreamless sleep potions, anything to get through it. When Draco’s parents pass, one after the other, Gakushuu tries to do the same, but this time with trips to the countryside to play quidditch in the rain and cleaning up experimental potions that threaten to melt someone’s face off.

They get past it, eventually. Gakushuu sets up a shrine in the corner of their living room, three faces looking out on them, just in case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m retiring.”

Gakushuu keeps his eyes on the cat, his hands burying themselves in soft fur. He can sense draco pause, almost hear the thoughts whirring through his mind. At this point, he knows Draco better than his own magic, so he expects the soft sink as Draco sits beside him.

“You’re sure?”

“The company can get on without me. They’ve developed the technology well enough that they don’t need my magic anymore. Besides, I’d hate to get too rich. I’d rather live in peace.” The cat stretches, jumping off his lap to wander the house tiredly. He knows it doesn’t have much time left, the same tiredness in its step as he can feel in his bones.

“Are we moving to a nice little country village, then?” Draco smiles, bringing his feet up to rest on the coffee table. He’s come a long way from the boy who sent a text message as though he was a medieval knight writing a letter.

“Hm. Possibly. Depends if there is wifi there.” Gakushuu snorts. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

Gakushuu stands, wandering over to the kitchen and passing the moving portrait hanging over the fireplace. Draco had insisted upon it a few years ago, a picture of the two of them with the cat. Unlike the stern portraits he says he grew up with, however, the portrait Draco and Gakushuu have a good sense of humour. As he passes them, portrait Draco is planting the portrait cat on top of portrait Gakushuu’s head, who rolls his eyes and flips portrait Draco the middle finger.

“If there isn’t any wifi, we can always magic up some.” Draco leans his head back and closes his eyes, basking in the afternoon sun streaming through the window.

“That’s not how wifi works.”

“Shame. Would make growing up in a wizarding family a lot easier. Tiny wizards and witches could go online and complain to their muggle friends that their parents want them to join the Death Eaters.”

“Hm, yes. That surely would have solved all of your problems.” Gakushuu rolls his eyes, voice dripping in sarcasm. “Your parents would have been so happy with that.”

“My poor father would have had a heart attack if he even had the slightest suspicion that I was talking to muggles.”

“Don’t say bad things about your father. He’s watching you from your heaven.” Gakushuu casts a glance over at the stern portrait of Lucius Malfoy in the shrine.

“Knowing him, he’s probably watching from hell.”

“With the Chairman sat beside him. They’ll be sharing popcorn.”

“Eating popcorn? With a muggle? God forbid.” Draco clutches a hand over his heart in mock horror, grinning.

Gakushuu hands him the mug of coffee and they both sit together in comfortable silence for a while, watching the cat walk back in and sit on the table. It bats at Draco’s foot, then sits on his legs.

“Good choice.” Gakushuu mumbles. Draco doesn’t respond, and when Gakushuu glances at him, he snores lightly. Gently, he takes the cup and sets it on the table, then leans back and falls asleep himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ren walks down the countryside lanes, greeting the familiar people he passes. He’s been down this way more times than he could count, bringing random ornaments and news of his growing family to Draco and Gakushuu. His children insist he is too old to do this, that he should take the trip only once a year instead, but he can’t bear the thought of not seeing them as much.

This time, as he knocks on the door, there’s no ‘DRACO! THE DOOR!’. There’s only cold silence. He should be used to it, like he slowly got used to the lack of a cat winding around his ankles. He glances over at the statue of the poor pet, which blinks at him slowly before settling down again. He feels it like a blow to his chest as he realises Gakushuu won’t be there to chuckle when he pets it.

“Ren. Come in.” Draco’s there, at the door, his greeting smile still as welcoming as ever. There’s a dimness to it, now, a lack of something that Ren can’t quite describe. It’s in the hallway, when he puts his coat over where Gakushuu’s used to be. It’s in the sunlight that coats a fine layer of gold over Gakushuu’s untouched desk, where he tinkered with random devices that gradually became so out of date they were worthless. It’s in the quiet, the awful quiet that can never now be filled with Gakushuu’s exasperated sighs. His voice is gone.

There’s a brief silence, where the both of them wait for a question. It never comes, so Draco asks it instead. “Coffee?”

“Please.” Ren sits down in his usual armchair as Draco goes to the kitchen. For a moment, he watches the portrait Gakushuu smile at him, a twinkle in his eyes, and kiss the cat in his arms. It’s never quite the same.

“I heard you have another grandchild. What’s their name?” Draco asks, returning with two steaming cups.

“Isobi named him Gakushuu. He’d asked Gakushuu when he was here, but it was near the end, so…” Ren trails off, remembering the lost expression, and tries to push it away. Gakushuu wouldn’t want to be remembered like that. He’d always been the clever one, the one who knew what he was doing and where he was going. The Gakushuu who couldn’t remember his own name wasn’t the real Gakushuu.

“That’s nice.” Draco nods, settling into his seat. “You’ll have to send me some pictures.”

There’s the silence again.

“Draco…” Ren looks down into his cup. “I heard you talking with one of your friends, when we first found out. I didn’t want to say anything at the time, but… I heard her talking about a cure.”

“I was working on one. In the basement, remember?”

“I can speak english, Draco.”

Draco sighs, heavily. “Alright. There was a spell that Pansy told me. It would restore Gakushuu’s mind, but… all dark magic has a price. I had to transfer the mind of a young, healthy human.”

Ren puts down the mug. His hands are shaking too much, from anger that Gakushuu could have been saved, or from horror at the spell, he doesn’t know.

“I couldn’t.” Draco’s voice drops into a whisper. “I thought about it. I was so scared for Gakushuu, Ren. I didn’t want him to go, and now he’s gone, and I could have saved him. But I didn’t. I couldn’t sacrifice anyone else for the people I loved. I’d done that before and it just cost more and more and… I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

Ren stands, walks over to Draco, and hugs him tightly as the man weeps. “I’m so sorry, Ren. I’m so sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. You made the right choice.” Ren sighs, although he wishes in his heart that Gakushuu was still here. “Gakushuu would have been proud of you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Years later, he looks between their graves, side by side. Almost the whole village, plus Gakushuu’s company, plus the english purebloods, turned out for their funeral. They were well loved, despite their rocky starts, and Ren hopes they had seen it. Only now does he get this private moment, saying his final goodbyes, and he can find no words.

Ah, well. They would probably know how he felt, if they could see him now. Actions speak louder than words, anyhow. He grabs onto Gakushuu’s headstone with a quick apology to get down to his knees - he isn’t as young as he used to be - and shovels at the ground, determined. It takes a while, but soon he’s got a nice hole. Gently, he places the tree there. It’s tiny, fragile, bending in the wind and threatening to break. He knows it won’t. The two gravestones will protect it.

He stands again, this time using Draco’s new headstone, and nods for the final time to his two friends. Perhaps he’ll live long enough to see the tree grow. Perhaps he won’t. Either way, he knows it will be safe, just like he knows the sun will come up the next morning, fresh and bright.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on! Race you!”

“That’s not fair. You started before me!”

A group of kids sprint up the hill, through the old graveyard, and stop to rest beside the old tree. One sits on a headstone, one sits on the branches, and the others take off again like bullets fired from a gun.

“You’re sitting on his headstone.” The boy in the tree observes, tutting. “You’ll be cursed for that.”

“Who’s headstone?” The girl says, slipping off and crouching to read the name. “Draco Malfoy. Funny name.”

“My mum says he was a wizard. With magic and stuff.”

“Don’t be stupid.” The girl scoffs, tracing the name with one finger. “Magic doesn’t exist.”

“Well this tree is magic!” The boy says. “Tap the wood with your nail and listen.”

Rolling her eyes, the girl steps forward and taps her nail against the tree. Nothing happens. She snorts. “That wasn’t very magical.”

“You have to put your ear against it, stupid.”

She sighs, overexaggerating her skepticism, and lays her ear flat against the trunk. She taps. A sharp ting echoes inside, accompanied by a crackling noise, and she jumps back with a yelp.

The boy laughs. “Told you! Magic. I’m Draco Malfoy, and I’m going to curse you for touching my tree!”

She folds her arms crossly and drops down in front of the other headstone. “What about this one then? Asano Gakushuu?”

“I dunno. My mum says he was an animal whisperer, but she won’t say what that means.”

“It means he could talk to animals, idiot. I think he’s cooler than this Draco man.”

The boy snorts. “No way! Being a wizard is cooler!”

“Is not!” She turns, storming away.

“Is too!” He jumps down, following her.

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

As they leave, a breeze rustles the leaves of the tree, the whispering of the leaves evolving into a small, quiet chuckle. Once more, the sun sets on the graveyard, casting a golden light over two headstones guarded over by a tree, the magic tree. But the long nights will pass, so the darkness won’t last forever.

A new day will dawn.


End file.
